Heroes of Halkegenia (English ver)
by ThaoNguyen
Summary: After 6000 years, the continent of Halkegenia is throwing into war with the Third race that thought to be destroyed in Founder's time. Louise Francoise le Blanc de La Valliere didn't want any part of it. But cruel hand of fate seems to like screw up her life as long as it existed. So she begins a long journey of finding out who she is and what purpose she have in this chaotic world
**Chap 1:**

If life was a play then Louise Francoise le Blanc de La Valliere 's life could be called both a tragedy and a comedy at the same time. What type of of life did she have? She was the kind of person that the casino's worshiped as a God because she could win a single coin. Of course, you shouldn't say that to her face or even Founder Brimir wouldn't be able to save you.

There is one thing we could say about her luck: Zero. Being a daughter of a noble family that only below the royal family of her country in a world that a person's nobility is decided on their ability to use magic. But from the day she was first taught magic, her spells always failed.

Childhood

"Useless little Louise, don't bother learning magic! You should just wait to be properly betrothed!" Honored sister Eleanor never had much sympathy for her even as a child.

"Don't worry, Little Louise! I believe in you! Well...but even if you can't do it, you're still my sister." Big sis Catt was always nice. Maybe her sickness allowed her to sympathize?

And her parents? Well...the disappointed sighs and forlorn looks were enough.

 **Teenager**

"Oh ho ho! You're a Zero from your magic to your sex appeal!" Zerbst...that fucking cow.

"Zero, why don't you just admit that you don't have any magic and drop out?" A common jeer by her classmates. She'd grown tired of hearing it constantly.

And her teachers? Most them had given up save a few determined ones.

"I hope you can restrain yourself, Ms Valliere. Well, you should limit your use of magic inside Academy's walls. The Academy's budget right now is a bit tight after have to fix too many classrooms..." Headmaster Osmond. He was more patient than most, but even he had his limits.

 **Present**

Of course, it wasn't as if she couldn't use magic, she just had some problem with her...control. Every spell she cast, no matter what element, purpose or incantation...all of them exploded.

Levitation? Explosion

Wind magic? Explosion.

Water magic...well, she didn't even need to explain anymore.

With the record of blowing up every classroom at least once in the first month of school, her Art teacher, Professor Leonardo, jokingly called her 'The Destroyer'. Well, it was better than being called 'Louise the Zero' by her classmates. The number of times she succeeded in casting a spell: Zero. The insults and jeers made her blood boil, and what was was worse she couldn't even protest because it was the truth.

It didn't help at all when that cow, Zebrst, never let the chance to rub it in her face slip by; both her poor magic skill and her underdeveloped body. And of course every time she did she stuck her chest out, shoving her udders in her face. Every single time it happened, she took one look at her modest chest (and to say it was modest was rather generous) and felt the urge to cry. Why was Founder Brimir so unfair?

 _My Beloved Descendant, you are not bearing witness to unfairness! I simply like small breasts better! He he, my dear Sasha !_ ...Her dreams of Founder Brimir were odd.

"Well, at least your portrait will be better. At least when others look at your portrait, they'll focus on your cute face rather than your chest.

Hearing Professor Leonardo say that, Louise let out a frustrated sigh. The teacher shrugged and turned back to his unfinished painting. In the whole Tristan Academy of Magic, Professor Leonardo was her only friend. He never once commented on her poor magical performance but took interest on her painting capabilities. He was always there when she needed a shoulder to cry on, when everything become too hard. He was almost like a second father to her.

"Ms. Valliere, you are aware I'm only twenty seven years of age, yes?"

"Just...forget what I said!"

"But all the boys like Zebrst..." Louise turned back to her own painting, her shoulders drooping slightly.

"Nonsense, you're still growing. There's no need to compare yourself with Miss. Zebrst." He smiled comfortingly, "Haha...besides, I doubt there's anyone bold enough to actually take her as his wife." Leonardo shrugged and dabbed his brush to the painted canvas, "Mistress, perhaps, but a wife? It would be rather difficult to try and keep her from sleeping with whoever she took a fancy to that day."

"Any self-respecting noble would never want a spouse unable to cast even the most simple magic." Louise muttered. It was the way of the world; her family name would help in that regard, but nothing could make her pathetic

"Should that ever come to pass I'll marry you myself, so worry not." Leonardo said.

"Thank you, Professor." Louise smiled back, never realizing that he didn't even turn to face her despite his bold proclamation.

* * *

Night fell, moonlight illuminating the room filled with easels and the scent of paint. A young man with dark hair and amber eyes looked outside the window. His face was handsome, easily attractive to most girls that passed him by, but his eyes were cold, seeming to promise death for anyone who that dared look at him the wrong way.

* _Sssss_ *

A small hiss broke the silence. On the stone floor, a long creature, as big as a person's foot, crawled under the light reflected from the red and blue moon. The young man placed his hand on the window and spoke.

"I said that I will deal with this personally!" His voice was low, holding power that normally didn't belong to a person of his age.

* _Sssss_ * The creature hissed angrily, impatiently. The young man frowned.

"It's not your place to question me! Remember that!"

The hisses didn't stop, only growing more intense. Still the young man didn't display any emotions, his face still stoic as ever. His amber eyes lock into the creature's. A cold glare made the hisses stop.

At this moment, Leonardo looked nothing like the good-natured art teacher that every one knew him as.

"Get the hell out of here before I lose my patience!" He snarled.

For a few minutes, only the young man remained in the room. He sighed, hand touching a portrait. The girl in the painting smile brightly back at him.

"What should I do...?"

The silence of the night was his only answer.

* * *

"Class, in your opinion, which element stands above every other?" The new Earth Magic teacher, Professor Cheveurse, asked. She was middle-aged woman that looked a bit in the chubby side, wearing a purple robe and a matching witch hat.

"There is no element that's better than the others. Each of them have their good and bad points." Louise recited, remembering what she heard from Leonardo. He was very smart, his knowledge outshining every teacher in school with the exception of Headmaster Osmond with flying colors. If she didn't know something, she could always find the answer from him. When she'd asked why he was content to be a normal Art teacher instead of using his knowledge for many thing better like become a researcher, he simply rubbed her head and said that ' _it was complicated_ '.

And she knew better than tried to pry the answer out of him. She wasn't Honored sister Eleanore, after all. She smiled, remembering their first meeting.

 **Flashback**

"Damn it! Damn it all to hell!"

She crumpled the letter and threw it against the wall in frustration. Eyes red, she gritted her teeth and tried to keep her breathing level. Usually one felt happy when they received family letters, but not so in her case. When she read them, it always left a bitter taste in her mouth. Even Cattleya's warm and caring words of encouragement could do nothing to lift her mood.

Why? Hadn't she tried enough already? She worked so hard and did her best but in her family's eyes she would forever be the failure, the stain in their family name. Come back home? Get married? It would be a nightmare! Even though her husband-to-be was a remarkable person she didn't want to just be a wallflower, a failure for the rest of her life. She wanted to be like her mother...or at least to not be useless.

But even her own family didn't believe in her. Her heart felt cold - She failed to register how she had gone to the classroom, she didn't even hear the insults and jeers that her peers threw in her direction. Even when the new art teacher introduced himself she remained silent, picking up her paint brush and worked on her painting like a puppet.

"It's good...but a bit pessimistic, isn't it?"

Louise broke out of her trance. The new art teacher was standing right next to her. He was...young. About Eleanore's age, she guessed. His dark hair catches her attention. She hadn't met a noble with that color; commoners were more likely to inherit. He wasn't bad-looking, she supposed. His eyes were amber, she noted idly, the left covered by a monocle. Looking down she was met with a dark trenchcoat and a red shirt underneath. Hmm, strange attire for a noble.

His eyes was captured by her painting: A landscape of red and dark colors. Dark clouds in the red sky formed a spiral overlooking a manor that was placed in center of the canvas. The manor was destroyed, filled the air of death. It exhaled a sense of doom and hatred.

And Louise knew. She could recognize her home anywhere, even as ravaged as it was. The hand holding onto the brush shook.

"...Miss Valliere! Miss Valliere!"

The call was the last thing she'd heard before she hit the ground. Everything was dark. She dreamt of her mother's cold and disappointed glance, Eleanore's scowls and the jeers of her peers. " _No one loves you_!" Yes, why waste time in a failure? Why did she still try? Did she want them to love her? It's useless! It's all useless!

" _Everything will be alright, little Louise!_ "

In that single moment, for the first time in her life, she felt hatred for her beloved sister Cattleya. She never had to try and meet their mother's expectations, never had to prove to others that she wasn't a failure in magic, never forced to marry just to be tucked away away from public eyes. She was sick, and yet they never held it against her.

"Miss Valliere, you're awake!"

The anger in her heart didn't. She was lying on a bed in the Academy's infirmary. A female healer in brown robes stands next to her, looking at her worriedly. Louise didn't know her name; it was her first trip to the infirmary, after all. Apparently, she exhausted herself with her intense studying and schedule.

"Of course I exhausted myself..." She scowled. Even if her mother heard about it she wouldn't even bat an eyelid. To her it would have been her just being 'weak'. The anger didn't fade; Louise felt it rising with every second that passed. She grabbed the fabric of her uniform and squeezed. Hate. She hated everyone. She hated her mother with her unreasonable expectations. She hated Eleanor for the cruel treatment that she inflicted upon her. She hated her father for siding with her mother She hated Cattleya for not being able to do anything. She hates her classmates for the jeers and insults...

Lost was lost in her own world, uncaring for anything that the Healer said. She didn't even notice when someone else came into the infirmary.

"Can I talk with her a bit? Privately, of course."

"Hmm, I suppose, but please be careful. She seems to be in a fragile state."

Louise lifted her head. It was her new art teacher, she didn't remember his name.

He smile at her gently, "Miss Valliere! How are you feeling now?"

"I'm...I'm fine! Sorry for disrupting your class, sir!" Louise looked at the young professor apologetically. She must have given him quite the scare. Worse, it was his first day. Great, what a terrible first impression..."

"It's not a problem!" The professor dismissed, an easy grin on his face, "I heard that you're a very hard-working student, but you should know how to relax more. Take better care of yourself, please. Don't worry, I'm not here to scold you."

"So...what are you doing here, sir?"

"The painting you worked on before you collapsed it was very intriguing. Did you have previous training?"

"Well, I did study art when I was five..." It was her most prized talent back then. Even when she was young, she was capable of painting a painting high quality creations, but she always chose the topic of death and destruction. Her favorite past time was creeping the hell out of Eleanore with her disturbing paintings. Of course Princess Henrietta still didn't have guts to look at her paintings without emptying her stomach. Even her mother turn away when Louise showed off her best painting: The Manticore and the Dragon

Or, as others called it, 'The Manticore that got eaten by the Dragon'

"You have potential! Even though your style is..." The young Professortried to find away to describe her work without offending her, "..Questionable. Still, you could be the greatest painter that Halkegenia ever seen!"

" _Assuming that someone can look at your painting without feeling the need to vomit..._ " Was left unsaid.

Still, she appreciated it all the same.

 **Present**

"But Professor Cheveurse, in this class there is someone who can't control even a single element!"

The irritating noise of that cow Zebrst hit Louise like horse's kick, shattering her good mood and dragging her back to reality. A loud roar of laughter filled the whole classroom, as they always did. The quill in Louise hand snapped in half and she stood up, ready to argue.

"Who said I couldn't control any elements...?"

"Isn't it the truth, Louise the Zero?" A blonde boy with a rotund stomach sneered.

"Shut up, Malicorne the Common Cold!"

"Who the hell is the Common Cold!? I am Malicorne the Windward!"

"Isn't it the same thing?" Louise sneered back.

"Enough!" Professor Cheveurse screamed, raising her voice to cut off the argument. Louise grumbled but sat down regardless. No one paid any mind when she slipped her wand back to her sleeve under her mantle.

The Professor continued, "You are all nobles, you should treat each other with respect"! She scolded "Calling each other names is beneath you! You are nobles, not...uneducated commoners!"

Louise nearly snorted. If it was like her teacher said then her classmates resembled commoners than a near magic-less person like herself. "You really think they'll care?" She muttered under her breath.

"Miss Valliere, why don't you come down here?" The teacher called, "Try to transmute those pebbles into any other metal of your choosing."

It took everyone about 3 seconds to process what just said, their faces quickly paling.

"That's not a good idea!" Zebrst was the first one who regain her ability to speak. "This is your first time teaching Valliere, isn't it? We'll all be killed-"

"Nonsense!" Professor Chevreuse interrupted, ignoring everyone's pleading eyes, "Ms. Valliere is a hard-working student and this is just a simple transmutation exercise; she will have no trouble with it."

"You don't understand..." Kirche turned to Louise now, "Zero, you don't have to do this-"

"I will do it!" Louise stood up and trudged down to the center, her classmates hiding under their tables as she passed. She didn't want to do this but their insults made her blood boil. Inwardly, she smirked. She was the Zero, wasn't she? So it was her job to make sure no one escaped unscathed. Standing behind the teacher's table, wand held tightly, she began to cast the spell.

At the last moment, just before before she finished the incarnation, she flicked her wand and pointed straight into her classmates.

*BOOM!*

An explosion so strong that it completely destroyed the classroom - even Louise was thrown back a bit because of the force - but the result was exactly what she wanted. No one in the class was able to escape unscathed despite them hiding under their desks. It would would have been better if they didn't hide; now they had to be dug out instead of just being shaken.

Trying to hide her smirk, she turned back to the stunned teacher,

"Oops! Seem like I slipped!"

Revenge was a dish best served cold.


End file.
